Life — March 18, 1909 — page 6: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“While there is Life there's Hope.” MARCH 1 VOL. LIL No. 1377 Published by PUBLISHING COMPANY Prove, R MALLUR, Seety amd Treat ‘Thirty-first Street, New York. are or- phans again. — Presi- dent Roosevelt went out of office amid the applause of the glad and the sorry, a tumultuous display of emotion by the elements and his other companions. the cries of the wounded led by our neigh- bor, the [orld, and the strains of the triumphant recessional of the band that played, to the tune of “A Hot Time,"— eo! brass a new man— ‘a new man on The job! About a hundred thousand people ir feet wet and the cause of total abstinence was set back about a year, That was because it was moving day for our National Storm-Center, and the weather felt bad and behaved worse at parting with its best friend. The pneumonia returns are not in at the time of this writing, but they are expected to be heavy, President Taft was in and made a speech. Nobody need read it Mr. Taft is a safe man and is not go- ing to do anything rash, no matter what he says. He said, though, that he hoped to continue the Policies, amend the trust laws, revise the tariff, increase the revenue (perhaps by a graduated inheritance tax), strengthen the navy, keep the p agree with the Japanese, protect aliens, revise the currency system, subsidize the mails, establish postal savings banks, dig the Canal (with locks), deal kindly but wisely with the negroes, help labor, protect business, and improve the methods of the courts, Not that he expects to do many of these things himself, or by his own unaided energy, but he will call them all in due time to sworn oi i ale at the attention of Congress, and first of all the tariff, for the improvement of which he called the extra session of Congress to begin on March 15, to deal with the tariff and nothing else. Of course, tariff revision is a serious job whick everybody who is concerned about it, is anxious to have over. If Mr. Taft succeeds in inducing Con- gress to help him make the first hole in his Presidential course in good or- der, he will get a very big start indeed. This is undoubtedly the time to tackle the tariff, with a new Congress, and a brand new President. The country wants the job done; all preparations that could be made by commissions and committees have been made. Now for it, then; and Heaven send that this most important work may be well handled. UT let us not be unduly excited even about the tariff. We have come to the end of a period of consid- erable strain, and about seventy-nine millions of us need a period of repose. If wishes were steamer-tickets about that many of us, more or less, would follow the example of Mr. Roosevelt and take ship this spring. get out of the country, and give ourselves to the contemplation of foreign lands for the government of which we were not re- sponsible. Mr. Taft is a careful man; he seems to have an excellent cabinet ; we have got some good new men into the Senate, and the House, refreshed by some new blood, is at least as com- petent as heretofore. For the moment they are all friendly to one another— President, Senate and House, and the Courts are cheered by the spectacle of a President, himself practiced in the law, and with six lawyers to advise him. If there is anything in legality surely the country is now safe, and anybody that can get away from it may go with reasonable confidence that it will be here when he comes back. Let us go then, if we can. Even though we merely go to Europe we shall find much to cheer us. * Pretty much all the big countries over there € troubles worse than ours, and are living farther beyond their incomes than we are. England is getting the same sort of unexpected patronage for its old-age pension that we have al- ways had for our war pensions, and is dismayed at the prospect; Germany has an embarrassing pressure of popu- lation on the means of subsistence. So has Italy. Austria is trying to gov- ern various unwilling provinces with the strong hand, and is daily on the brink of war with one or another of them; Russia seems still to be a fes- tering sore, and France fears for her loans and her soul, both of which are esteemed to be in peril. Altogether there is a great deal in Europe to flat- ter the wandering American into the conviction that his own land is not so ill off as it might be, and if he goes on into Asia the same consoling im- pression will be imparted to him with increased force ‘on the 23d of this month. Somebody has got his picture in the paper by prog: nosticating with absolute confidence that if Mr. Roosevelt goes where he is expected to go, fevers and bad in- sects will do him up, and he will never return. But probably he will not go where he is expected to go. He has engagements to deliver two courses of lectures in two of the most civilized centers of Europe, and has already written the lectures (so we hear), and doubtless anticipates a good deal of pleasure in delivering them and seeing the folks who will come to hear them. We do not doubt for a minute t he will deliver them, and that he will avoid in Africa adventures and excur- sions which would be likely to put his life in more than ordinary jeopardy If there is anybody around to whom this earth ought to look interesting it is Mr. Roosevelt. Like any of the rest of us he may get prematurely run over by an automobile, but we cannot think there is the least likelihood that he will fool away an unequaled expec- tation of interesting human experi- ences by rash behavior in the wilds of Africa. comicbooks.com